August 19, 2013

London & Bath

A promising sign when I opened up my first magazine on the plane overseas

Upon our arrival, it became immediately clear to
me that London is my foreign home away from home. The city is everything you
expect, and more: hospitable, royals-obsessed, picturesque, steeped in
tradition and history, easily navigable, and really, not so different from the
U.S.

We began every day with “bacon and beans” and
“loads of tea,” and then proceeded to make our way around town. The Tube wasn’t
nearly as scary and confusing as I thought it would be, and it really helped us
to cover a lot of ground. We each bought the London Pass, and because of the
sheer volume of activities that we took on while there, it ended up being the
way to go. Every night ended with a stop at the local corner store for jugs of
water, Crunchie bars and stacks of British tabloids—certainly, my idea of a the
perfect nightcap.

We reserved one whole day of our time in London
for a Chunnel trip to Paris (covered in tomorrow’s post), and then we took the
train to Wales via Bath. Bath was charming, and the town’s main sights can be
seen in a 5-hour layover. It’s a stop that I’d recommend if you have the time
and an appetite for Georgian architecture.

The first sight of London, after emerging from the Tube at Victoria Station

Believe it or not, we stumbled across the Houses of Parliament while wandering around the hotel